By NNN-Yonhap,
Seoul : The world’s top 20 advanced and emerging economies plan to issue an emergency statement vowing to actively aid Haiti as it struggles with the aftermath of a massive earthquake, South Korea’s presidential office said.
“The G-20 member countries had a sherpa meeting in Mexico yesterday to discuss the agenda for the upcoming summit,” Kim Eun-hye, a Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman, said at a press briefing on Friday . Sherpa is another term for the personal representatives of world leaders to the multilateral forum, this year’s summit of which is co-chaired by South Korea and Canada.
Kim said the sherpas discussed the Haiti issue and decided to adopt a related joint statement.
“It will be issued soon,” she said, adding the move comes at South Korea’s initiative.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak believes his once-poor country should play an active role in assisting Haiti as it was able to emerge as a developed nation with the help the international community, Kim said.
The South Korean government on Thursday sent a 35-member disaster assistance team and supplies worth US$1 million to the Caribbean state, and another 7-member team for medical support was dispatched Friday.
Some 70 South Koreans were residing or traveling in Haiti when the 7.0 earthquake hit the country on Wednesday; all of them have been confirmed safe.
Lee said earlier in the day that the members of the G-20, the world’s premier forum for economic cooperation, have agreed to “closely cooperate” in aiding Haiti, where as many as 50,000 people are estimated to have died due to the quake.
“(Leaders of) The G-20 countries have not actually met, but have contacted one another and agreed to aid Haiti,” the president said in a meeting with the heads of South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates. “I believe the incident calls for international attention in restoring the country and saving lives.”
The earthquake is said to have destroyed thousands of buildings and homes, with tens of thousands of bodies still buried in the rubble.
Meanwhile, Lee said this year’s summits of the world’s 20 advanced economies, slated to be held in Canada in June and South Korea in November, are expected to help with efforts to end North Korea’s diplomatic isolation.
“South Korea believes the G-20’s role is of importance in a variety of development policies for North Korea when it gives up its nuclear weapons and begins to cooperate,” the president. “The G-20 will be helpful in various ways.”